Hanged on the old proctor lynching tree. This is a multiple cedar tree and these four make a total of nine men lynched on this tree, some were white men.This tree is an old land mark and was an old cedar tree, even in the youngest days of the oldest settlers. Russellville is one of the pioneer towns and was settled in a cane brake. This is an exact photograph taken at dawn Aug 1, 08.

Copyrighted 1908, by Jack Morton, salesman, Stahlman, Stahlman building, Nashville, Tenn, U.S.A.

A real photographic postcard bearing this image falsely attributes the location of and motive for the lynching. The typed inscription on the reverse reads, "Four Niggers hanged by a mob in the State of Georgia for assaulting a white woman." In fact this lynching occurred in Kentucky, and the men were known for their public criticism of the white run legal system-this is the most likely reason they were executed. The false information reflects a common justification for lynching in the South-that blacks were inferior and sexually uncontrollable. Such justification by southern leaders fostered the misconception that blacks were lynched predominantly for sexual assault, but
few lynching victims were actually convicted or even indicted for such crimes